Propulsion means for rowboats



F. W. RACY PROPULSION MEANS FOR ROWBOATS Filed March 14, 1949 Dec. l2,1950 Patented Dec. 12, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEI PROPULSIONMEANS FOR ROWBOATS Frank W. Raicy, Portland, Oreg.

Application March 14, 1949, Serial No. $1,248

2 Claims.

My invention relates to means for propelling row boats and skiffsparticularly those used for hunting and nshing. The objectives andadvantages of this invention over the prior art will come to the surfaceas the specication proe gresses.

Wild game is becoming scarce and hunters are becoming plentiful as thecountry is opened up and better roads are made available. Ducks andgeese are difficult to approach. Operators of row boats make theirpresence known audibly and visually because of the implements they useto move their boats and because of the gyrations they go thru in doingso. When they troll or cast for iish the turbulence created by oarsfrightens the fish.

To remedy the above is the principal objective of my invention. Thereare many other objectives such as enabling the operator to face ineither direction while travelling, to propel the boat without noise orturbulence, and to propel the boat while out of sight.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig.1 is a vertical section thru a boat and shows the propelling apparatusin position; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the propelling apparatus; Fig. 3is an end elevation of the propelling apparatus; Fig. 4 is an enlargedelevation of a blade; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line5--5 of Fig. 4.

Thruout the drawings and the specification similar numerals refer tosimilar parts.

Fig. 1 is a vertical section thru the stern of a row boat I with mypropelling apparatus 2 detachably secured thereto. I employ a rudder 3provided with a tiller 4 positioned at right angles thereto. The rudder3 is provided with an upper pintle 5 and a lower pintle 6. On the endboard 'I of the boat I is secured the upper and lower sockets 8 and 9spaced to receive the rudder pintles 5 and Ii, respectively, whereby therudder 3 and incidently the rest of my apparatus is pivotally attachedto the boat and adapted to be turned by the tiller 4 from side to side.From the above it is evident that the whole propelling and steeringapparatus may be detached from the boat as a unit by lifting it upwardlytill the pintles are removed from their sockets and said apparatus maybe put in operative position by reversing the operation.

The rudder 3 is not limited in configuration but in this instance it isshown as an oblong sheet of thin material extending about six inchesbelow the bottom of the boat I. Its upper end is formed with anextension I0 provided with a boss I! on each side thereof to provide anadequate length of bearing for the hinge pin IZ on which theblade-carrying arms I3 and It are hinged and also to provide ampleclearance for the movement of the blades I5 when in open position or onthe .push stroke.

The blades i5 are positioned within the bifurcation formed in the lowerends of the arms i3 and Iii and project an equal distance on each sideof said arms and are secured thereto by the screws Il therein which passthru the blade I5. The blades I5 are made of a circular sheet offlexible material as rubber I8 with two semi-circular pieces of springwire IQ moulded in to provide stiffness to portions of the perimeter.The central portion 2G of the blade I5, or that portion within thebifurcation, is without reinforcement so that the blade I5 may bereadily folded as is shown in Figs. 1 to 3, at 21. This foldingoperation of the rubber blade I5 takes place during the back stroke ofthe arms I3 and I4. To prevent the blade I5 from opening too far on thefront or push stroke the reinforcing wire I9 has its ends 19A bent atright angles to the body portion ISB to lay against the sides of the armI3 or I4 when the blade I5 is fully opened as it should be during saidpush stroke. This is clearly shown in Fig. 5, and is the preferableconstruction. In the upper portion of Fig. 4, the end ISA is first bentupwardly and out of the sheet of rubber I8 and then at right angles.This latter construction is also clearly shown in Fig. 1, at 22.

The rudder 3 has been shown cut from a single piece of material andsince it is thin it has been reinforced by two side strips 23 and 23which provide stiiiness for the tiller 4 of which they form a part.Their outer ends are spread to form a fork 24 for the reception of anoperating arm 25 formed with a hand grip portion 26 on each end thereof.The pin 2l journalled in the fork 24 permits the operating arm 25 to bereciprocated by the occupant of the boat. The arm I3 is shown connectedto the upper end of the operating arm :25 by the bent connecting rod 28which is hingedly connected to the arm I3 and the operating arm 25 bythe hinge pins 29 and 30, respectively. In a like manner the arm I4 isshown connected to the lower end of the operating arm 25 by the bentconnecting rod 3| which is hingedly connected thereto by the hinge pins33 and to the arm I4 by the hinge pin 32. Because of the above hook-upthe occupant of the boat may alternately reciprocate the blades I5 andthus move his boat forward. He may do this from the seat 354 when facingin the d direction of travel or he may reciprocate the operating arm 25from the seat 35 while facing the stern of the boat which he wouldprobably do when casting or trolling for fish. If he wants to sneak upon ducks without being seen he may remove the seat 35 and reciprocatethe operating arm 25 while lying out of sight on the oor boards 36 ofthe boat i. The blades l5 are normally about 6" below the bottom of theboat l and never break the surface while operated hence they do notcreate a turbulence as do oars.

The apparatus described and shown is of the utmost simplicity yet itadmits of many modifications in shape, arrangement, and adaptation, andwhile the prior art have been active they have not approached thesubject matter Of the appended claims and hence I claim all that comesfairly within their scope.

I claim:

l. In an apparatus for the propulsion of boats, a rudder having atiller, an operating arm fulcrumed o n a pin in the endr of the tiller,a hinge pin carried by theI rudder, a blade-carrying arm mounted on thehinge pin on each side of the rudder, a connecting rod hingedlyconnected to one blade-carrying arm, and t0 one end of the operatingarm, a connecting rod hingedly connected to the other bladeecarrying armand to the opposite end of the operating arm, and a blade carried byeach arm adapted to fold on the backward movement of its arm and open onthe forward movement thereof.

2. In an apparatus for the propulsion of row boats having a pair ofblade-carrying arms alternately movable forward and back, a blade formedof a sheet of rubber having opposite portions of its peripheral edgereinforced and its intervening middle portion unreinforced saidreinforcement consisting of a pair of semi-circular metal members havingtheir ends bent at right angles to the intervening portion of saidblade.

' FRANK W. RAICY.

EEFERENCES CITED The ufollowing references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 415,082 Wight g Nov. 12, 1889892,418 Hallman N U v July 7, 1908 1,655,762 Englehrt V Jan. 10, 19281,789,749 Herring Jan. 20, 1931 1,807,289 Herring V a May 26, 1931

